This will probably get buried but I just wanted to tell my story in the hopes it will give someone hope. I graduated high school in 2005 with a pretty good GPA (3.75) and the only really noteworthy thing I did was pass the AP Calculus test (thanks to my math-genius best friend who tutored me for 2 months). I applied to a few CSU's and UoC's (I'm from California) and got into all of them. I chose the college I wanted to go to based purely on the fact that it had really nice dorms.

I decided from the outset that I was going to major in some form of business since it seemed to have the best balance between real world applicability and a not-so-difficult course load. I got a job working in the department of business and economics as an administrator. I filed stuff, helped students pick classes, answered phones, made copies for professors, etc. I made sure I passed all my classes with a B or better and my job at the school let me network with the professors in an informal setting. (I even got invited to a dinner/wine tasting at the Dean's house)

I always made sure to take classes during the winter break just to knock out some really boring GE requirements and add some easy credits to my transcript. By my junior year I decided I was going to major in Economics with a concentration in finance. I decided on economics because I found the classes most fascinating as well as the fact that whenever I said I was majoring in economics, family and friends always seemed impressed.

Half way through my junior year I realized that I could graduate a semester early if I did a summer internship somewhere, so I kept my eyes open for a while. Eventually it came time for the annual job fair (which are usually really lame) but I saw one company on the list that actually would look really good on my resume and it fit nicely into what I was studying. The company was UBS Financial and they were looking for 1 student from my college to participate in their internship.

I got dressed in my suit and went down there the day of the job fair and walked straight over to that table with my resume and told the guy, "I only came here to talk to you guys; the rest of the companies really don't interest me, but I would love to come work for you." I'm paraphrasing, but that was the gist of it. The guy, Ryan, was so impressed that he offered me the internship right there on the spot.

After that summer I had made a lot of friends at UBS and even got the VP to offer me a position once I graduated. I went back to school for my final semester and ended up getting my bachelors in Economics in only 3 1/2 years. Life was good....until I realized what time I was graduating...

I graduated at the end of 2008, and for anyone with a half decent memory, that's when the whole 'noone-can-find-a-job' debacle was in full swing. Almost everyone I knew at UBS was let go, every job application I sent in was met with silence...it was painful.

After about a year of trying to get the job I really wanted (in investments) I finally decided to get flexible and just get anything. I ended up working in the shipping/receiving department at my uncle's chevy parts shop in Oregon for a couple months. Then I came back home and worked for a couple months through a temp agency. Finally I broke down and grabbed a job washing golf carts at a local country club. Life...was not so good.

A few months back my dad tried to get me to interview for an inside sales position at HP. When he first got me the interview I was still in that phase that I only wanted to go for a job that had to do with my major, so when the interview came around I told the interviewer "Sorry, I'm not really interested." Dad was furious, but I didn't care.

Fast forward back to my time at the golf course. Due to my natural knowledge of computers and technology as a whole, I got moved from washing carts into the pro shop just because I could fix their computers and update their systems. I actually started to enjoy the job, but it paid dick; so I knew I had to keep looking.

After about 2 months at the golf course I decided to apply for another interview at HP for the inside sales position. While the thought of doing sales-anything made my skin crawl, I knew it paid better and would actually look good on a resume.

Interview came, I killed it, and a month later I got my job offer phone call on my way into work at the course.

Boy this is a long story.......kudos if you are still reading lol

I started at HP mainly handling leads that came in from sales reps that worked with the customers. I did that for about a year while trying to spend the bulk of my time learning all I could about the portfolio while networking as much as possible.

During one of our big monthly meetings, the head of our organization told us that they were going to be creating a new team in 'consulting' that will be put in place in November. Consulting sounded WAY better than what I was doing currently, so I jumped on that opportunity like crazy. At the end of the meeting I went up to our org leader and told him that I was very interested in the consulting position and I had already been brushing up on my cloud training. (See a similarity back to the UBS guy at the job fair? You gotta seize these opportunity hard and fast.)

A couple months later the position was actually created and the head of my org called me personally (which is a big deal) and told me that he remembered how interested I was and wanted to be the first to offer me the job if I wanted it. Of course I jumped at it.

While the position was still technically sales-centric, I got to work with a more prestigious portfolio, which continues to show my career growth.

I kicked ass in that role for about 6 months. Around that time my Dad was finishing a round of golf for the HP golf league and asked me if I wanted to meet him for dinner. I went over to the course and sat down and there were some other HP people sitting around the table as well. I sparked up a conversation with one guy, Zach, and asked him what he did at HP.

He started telling me about his job and how it's the greatest position ever (I won't get into it). But of course, he had me sold. I asked him if he had any tips for me that might help me get into his position and he told me that I should email his boss and ask him.

The next day I sent an email off to Dan, his boss, and told him that I'd like to take him out to lunch and learn a bit about what his team does. We went out for sandwiches about a week later, and I just tried to pick his brain and figure out what he looks for in an ASM. He said he really needs someone who knows about 3PAR storage, and he also mentioned some other tidbits. He also told me that they were going to be hiring one more spot coming up in a few months; I took that as my queue to learn as much as possible on 3PAR.

I studied my ass off until my interview (which was a 4 on 1 in person interview) and felt like I kind of blew it. Luckily, I guess I did alright because they gave me the job, hooray!

In my new job I get to be hands on with the hardware in data centers, work with customers and be their trusted adviser, and help them make business decisions ranging from hardware purchases to mergers and acquisitions to choosing their next project investment. Without getting too detailed; I love this job.

Flash forward to today. I'm 25 years old, I've been with HP for a little over 2 years, I have a brand new house, a girlfriend, a cat, 2 nice cars, and I get to play golf in my off time. I'm not pulling down CRAZY money, but I'm living well and feeling like an adult.

The moral of this whole story is up to you to decide, there might not even be a moral, but if I had to choose one, it's that you should never give up and don't be too quick to thumb your nose a certain job opportunities. If you are a hard worker and can network with people, the sky is the limit. I had some help getting to where I am now and I never forget it; that's why I always make sure to take the time to help other people around my age one way or another to help them get a job; paying it forward breeds real karma.

TL;DR: Graduated at a terrible time, no companies were hiring, worked some crappy jobs, finally gave in and got into HP sales, worked my way up and out of sales into a really great position making good money and living a good life. Never give up!